Civic

Ola Cabs gives 500 vehicles to Karnataka for COVID activities  A tweet by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister C N Aswath Narayan revealed that Ola Cabs had agreed to give 500 Ola vehicles for COVID-19 related activities to the Karnataka Government. These vehicles will be used by the government for facilitating the commute of doctors and other activities related to management of COVID-19.  The Deputy CM also specified that taxis, auto-rickshaws and other services shall not be permitted to transport passengers. The purpose of the said services during lockdown is only to transport doctors, essential commodities and support medical emergencies. Source:…

COVID-19: Count rises to 88 in Chennai, GCC and police launch corona-related apps The total number of COVID-positive patients in the state touched 485 on April 4rd with 88 of them in Chennai. In view of this, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has identified eight hotspot clusters and imposed stringent restrictions on people’s movement where the number of reported patients are reportedly more. The civic body has allocated 25-30 persons in each area to identify symptomatic cases. GCC has launched the‘Corona Monitoring App’ to track patients with fever symptoms to battle the virus. For people in quarantine, the Tamil Nadu…

As the city continues to be under lockdown, many people have questions on the eligibility and procedure of availing a pass for unavoidable travel. Stringent measures have been put in place in the city to enforce social distancing and the  policy of passes is also designed to ensure that even if people have to step out, it should not lead to crowding anywhere. Here is a guide that answers the most common queries around travel passes in Chennai: Who can issue a travel pass? The process has been centralised and only Collectors through Personal Assistant (General) for districts and the…

Bengaluru Urban among top 25 COVID hotspots Bengaluru Urban and Mysuru are among the top 25 COVID-19 hotspots in the country, whereas Chickballapur is fast emerging as one over the last fortnight. Bengaluru was also among the top seven cities with a high case load as of March 30. These observations were made by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in its 'COVID-19 Status Health Report'. The report also mentioned that Victoria Hospital was being developed as a dedicated COVID-19 facility with 1,200 isolation beds, 15 ICU beds, and 20 ventilators. V Ravi, senior professor at NIMHANS said…

Sample this: One drone disinfects 80,000 sq metres in a day, requiring negligible manpower and covering all nooks and corners of the city.  This technology, adopted by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) to combat the spread of COVID-19, has caught the attention of many city residents. In a tie-up with Team Dhaksha (Aerospace Department) of Anna University, the civic body is using drones for spraying disinfectant across the city. Following a pilot run in the Corporation’s headquarters at Ripon Building using four drones, the project is to be extended across Chennai, according to the Corporation’s press release. We spoke to…

COVID-19: 18 cases in Chennai, exclusive hospital comes up, GCC screens migrant workers In a bid to contain the spread of the virus, Greater Chennai Corporation is taking measures on a war footing. The Corporation has begun pasting stickers outside houses and apartments of people who have been home-quarantined. On March 28 morning, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases in Tamil Nadu touched 40. Eighteen of them are positive patients (one recovered and discharged and one yet to be discharged) are admitted to hospitals in Chennai, according to the bulletin issued by the state health department on March 27.…

Lockdown tensions Just a few hours before the 21-day national lockdown started, there was a sudden rush of people trying to return to their hometowns, even though buses and other vehicles were off the roads. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had allowed a final window till Tuesday midnight by lifting the ban on inter-district movement that had been enforced since Monday. The move was apparently to enable people to celebrate Ugadi, but the rush undid social distancing. Moreover, several thousands were stuck at various toll booths. An official memo signed by the City Police Commissioner, Bhaskar Rao, revealed that passes…

On the isolated Rukmani Devi Street of Valasaravakkam, Chinnaiyan, a conservancy worker parks his tricycle under a large almond tree. The shade of the tree has always been his resting place, where he would catch a break after collecting household waste from six streets. As he opens his lunch box, a routine he has been following for a few years now, two residents turn up and ask him not to sit there. “They did not want me to park the tricycle here as they were afraid I would infect them. I will have to eat at the corner of the…

Predictably, our cities have been preoccupied with little other than the health emergency created by the novel coronavirus pandemic. Please see our complete coverage of  COVID-19 for daily updates, reportage and information resources pertaining to the outbreak. Meanwhile, here are some other urban news this week: Four-lane express-way to come up between Mumbai And Goa A 500-km long expressway along the lines of Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway will be built between Mumbai to Goa as announced by Maharashtra Public Works Department Minister Eknath Shinde. The expressway will open up tourism opportunities in the Konkan region and will also generate jobs, he added.…

COVID-19: Two new cases, two quarantine facilities, app to trace contacts A 20-year-old UP man who reached Chennai by train and a  21-year-old student who flew down to Chennai from Dublin tested positive for COVID-19 this week. The two patients were asymptomatic upon arrival and self-reported to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) with symptoms. Health Minister Vijayabaskar tweeted that the patients are stable and being closely monitored. To enable the fight against the virus, two quarantine facilities - Institute of Public Health (IPH), Poonamallee and Government Hospital of Thoracic Medicine (GHTM) at Tambaram Sanatorium - have been set up.…